Holding Pattern

(the home of the Fabled Lands Application, also known as FLApp)

This is a replacement for the cookie-cutter page that was previously here. Hopefully it will become a more functional web-site at some point. For now, it serves as the distribution centre for my Fabled Lands adaptation.

Update: 31 May 2008

Version 0.99 is available! This release fixes various remaining bugs; it's intended as a 'stable' release before we begin work on the fan-written version of book 9 (available in PDF form from the group). For details of the bugs fixed, see this page.

If you've already been playing version 0.96 or later, the above version will suit you - it doesn't contain any of the book illustrations, just the updated program and text. To get the book illustrations you can download the zip-files containing the illustrations (shown in the right column), or download the file containing the whole lot. (Note that you don't have to unzip the archives containing the illustrations; what you want to end up with is the files 'illus1.zip', 'illus2.zip', and so on, in the same directory as the program files).

Update: 17 June 2008

The documentation has been updated (finally) to include changes made for book 6. This is intended for users wanting to create their own content or 'tweak' the existing books. The introduction is here.

Fabled Lands?

Fabled Lands was a gamebook series originally published in 1995-6. There were 12 planned volumes, but only 6 were ever published, because the gamebook market had virtually imploded.

Gamebooks? What?

Um, do you remember Fighting Fantasy? No? What about Choose Your Own Adventure? A few heads are nodding. The basic concept is an interactive story, written in the second person, cut up into short numbered sections; at the end of each section you're given a choice as to which section comes next, based on your 'action' within the narrative. A gamebook adds some RPG-ish rules to the mix. Essentially it's a solo role-playing game with a lot of reading.

But what does this mean for us today?

I'm in the process of adapting the six published books for the computer. Note the word 'adapting': I've tried to stay as close as possible to the original text, handling all the rules and leaving the player free to read and enjoy without the (sometimes tedious) record-keeping. The player is faced with something very much like a web-page, and other windows displaying a map and the character's abilities.

Screenshot

Looks interesting. How do I try it?

Easy, just download the latest version: this contains all the books that have been converted. You'll need to have Java 1.5 on your computer: refer to the README.txt file in the zip-file you've just downloaded.

I like it, but I ran into this weird bug.

If you find a bug or a typo, please email me. If possible, include the book and section(s) where the problem occurred. You might want to check the list of known bugs first. This program is still under active development; the sooner bugs are found, the sooner they'll be fixed!

I keep dying. This is too hard.

Try starting in book 5 and travelling east, into the easier books. That way your character will be more able to tackle anything that comes your way. Don't forget to save occasionally: that way you can reload if things go pear-shaped. If you've got some spare cash, it's worthwhile to buy some blessings. A luck blessing gives you a second chance in most situations.

When is the next version coming out/When are you doing the rest of the books?

When it's ready. If you want to be notified, you should join the Yahoo Fabled Lands group, where I post updates.

Are you going to do other gamebook series?

Unlikely. Fabled Lands was unusual in that each book was based around a geographic region in the same world. As more books were published, you could travel between books. In video-game terms, it's a 'sandbox' - you can explore for as long as you like. This makes it very amenable to a computer version. Other gamebooks tend to be more linear; converting them would be a little pointless.

What about copyright?

Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson gave permission for people to publish PDF versions of the books; these are available at the Yahoo Fabled Lands group. I've assumed it's OK to convert the books into this form as long as it remains free (making money from other people's copyright is generally frowned upon). There have been rumours of attempts at getting the books republished: if this ever actually occurred, I would hope to come to some arrangement with the authors (eg. program remains free, with paid-for content, profits go direct to them).

This web-page sucks.

I agree. Maybe we could form a club?

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